Under the Same Stars
by DiamondSummit
Summary: maximum ride/twilight crossover. max and the gang move to forks and start high school. their tutors happen to be edward, alice, and bella. what will happen when both sides realise that the others are not 100% human? T for language and older themes
1. Preface

**This is a crossover between Maximum Ride and Twilight. It takes place after MR 3 and Eclipse, only Bella, Edward, and Alice are still seniors and Emmet, Rosalie, and Jasper are living with Esme and Carlisle. Max, Fang, and Iggy are 18 and seniors, Nudge is 15 and a freshman, Gasman is 13 and in 8****th**** grade. Angel is 11 and in 6****th**** grade.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! *sniffle***

Max POV

"So, tell me again, why did we have to travel to Forks, Washington to settle down? Wouldn't somewhere warm and sunny be just as nice? Not that this isn't nice…" nudge complained. I could see her point. This place wasn't exactly paradise.

"We're here because we've never been to Washington State before, the school system is decent, and all these rainy days mean that we can fly as much as we want above the clouds," I answered.

We had just flown 6 hours to reach the little, dust filled cabin that I had bought with the Maximum Ride card. Apparently, once the school was brought down, all it's money was moved to that card. In the past four years, it had come in handy a lot of times. Even though the School was gone, there were still a lot of smaller groups mad at us. Up until about six months ago, we had been on the run. Starting six months ago, however, we hadn't been attacked.

So that's when I decided it wouldn't be too bad for us to have at least one year of education. And that's how we ended up in this one bathroom, three bedroom, wonder house that I had bought. Fang tried to convince me to buy a mansion, but I decided against it.

Speaking of Fang, he had gotten new powers over the years. We all had. He could now turn completely invisible and turn those touching him invisible. When he is invisible, he could also move silently.

Iggy could "see" things now. He had this extra sense that allowed him to feel the sound vibrations in the air and see outlines of shapes and when he touched things, he could see what color the things were. As a result, no one could sneak up on him and he could read by touching the white of the paper and seeing the outline of words.

Nudge could sense emotions of others around her. When she touched people, she could manipulate emotions and send her emotions to others. During fights, she would project a painful emotion, causing all who touched her pain.

Gasman could conjure and throw fire up to 10 feet. We think that had something to do with his fierce love of explosives.

Angel didn't get any new powers, hers just improved. She could read and control minds up to a few miles away.

As for me, I could control air. Yeah, you heard me right. I could control air currents, make air explode, even change air pressure. I was like, queen of the sky! Wow, did I really just think that? Oh! That reminds me, I hadn't heard my voice in four years.

"Home sweet home," Iggy mumbled. "This place is covered with dust."

"I've got it," I said. Whipping up a strong wind, I cleaned the house in one streak. I thought I took care of that last week when I flew up here to get food and stuff like that. "Okay! Sleeping assignments! Iggy, Gasman, down the hall to the left. Angel, Nudge, down the hall to the right, first door. Me and Fang are in the second door to the right. Bathroom is at the end of the hall, fridge is stocked. Iggy, Gasman, one explosion and you lose your door privileges."

"Door privileges?" Gasman asked, his voice cracking.

"No explosions or I kick the door down."

"Oh." Gassy and Iggy exchanged a nervous glance.

Fang and I walked into our room. I threw my bag on the floor and felt Fang's arms wrap around my waist. He kissed my cheek.

"How are you?" he whispered into my ear.

"Dead beat." Somehow I managed to keep up a steady wind working for us all the way here, cutting the 12 hour flight down to 6 hours.

"Relax, we're here now. Schools starting in a few weeks, we can show off our photographic memories." Ah, the perks of being a mutant freak.

"Yay," I said, layering on the sarcasm. Fang laughed.

"I can't wait, either. At least we don't have to be watching our backs at this school."

**So, do you like it? Hate it? Think it needs more vampires? Don't worry, they're coming. Please review! My first fanfic, so I'll ask you all to kindly be gentle.**


	2. First Day

**Disclaimer: if I magically come to inherit the rights of twilight and/or maximum ride, you all will be the first to know. As it is, I own nothing.**

**Chapter 1**

**First day**

Max POV

_Beep beep beep beep beep beep_

"Shutup…stupidalarm…tooearly…" I mumbled. Sitting up out of Fang's arms, I yawned and stretched. "Wake up, Fang. Come on, first day of school, and all that jazz." I said, gently rubbing his shoulder.

His eyes cracked open, "Max? 's that you?"

"Yes it's me." I chuckled. "I get first shower, you wake up the rest of the flock." Fang mumbled something about the hot water before getting out of bed **(Before you ask, NO, they did not do anything. Their agenda is strictly sleeping only)**. Grabbing some cloths as I went, I made my way down the hall as Fang went the opposite direction to wake up Angel and Nudge. Once in the shower, I stretched out my wings as much as I could, loving the feeling of the water run down my back.

15 minutes later I grudgingly turned off the water. If I stayed in any longer, the oil in my wings would wash away, making them useless for at least 12 hours. Slipping into the jeans, tee shirt, and baggy wind breaker for my wings, I made my way to the kitchen where Iggy was making scrabbled eggs and Fang was frying bacon.

"I'll make toast," I volunteered.

"Don't burn anything," Iggy warned.

"I thought that was your job, pyro boy," I shot back.

"Har har."

Nudge, Gassy, and Angel filed into the room, grabbing plates and food on the way.

"Max, this toast is a little… _well done_, don't you think?" Angel asked. Iggy shot a pointed look in my direction.

"Just eat it, please," I pleaded. "It's really not that bad."

"Okay, if you say so," Angel said, still eyeing the toast suspiciously. I decided now was I good time to change the subject from my cooking.

"Fang, you flying or should I?" we had managed to acquire an old car that was just running. The only problem was it only had five seats and to small to squeeze in one more person. So Fang and I agreed that one of us would fly above the car.

"I'll fly." Way to keep your reply under five words, Fang.

"Okay! Plates in the sink, backpacks in the trunk, everyone minus Fang in the car, let's move people!"

"I call shotgun!" Nudge yelled.

"No, you can't call shotgun. We go by seniority rules. I get shotgun." Iggy said, climbing into the front seat. I hopped into the driver's seat, still proud that I managed to get my drivers license on my first try, even if I manipulated the air currents to give me a little boost. The drive to the Forks Middle School was uneventful. Every now and then, I would look up and see Fang high above the car. Once we got there, Gassy and Angel jumped out. I slipped out of the car and walked over to give them a little pep talk.

"Now listen, you two, look out for each other. If people talk about you, ignore them. Gassy, look out for Angel and no playing with fire. Angel, look out for Gassy and no playing mind puppet. Understood?"

"Yes, Max," Angel and Gassy answered at once.

"Good kids. See you later!" I yelled after them as they ran towards the doors. When I got back in the car, Fang was sitting behind the driver's seat. I shot him a confused look.

"I wanted to arrive at the same time as you guys," he shrugged. We arrived at the school and found a parking space. Man, this school has everything, from an ancient looking Chevy to a sparkling silver Volvo.

"Will you get mad at me if I blow up the Volvo?" Iggy mumbled.

"What's wrong with the Volvo?" Nudge asked.

"Nothing, it's just the newest and probably most expensive car here." Leave it to the blind guy to know that.

We walked into the main office and I couldn't help notice that the lady behind the desk, Mrs. Cope her nameplate said, was eyeing Iggy and Fang in a very un-teacher-like way.

"Um, hi. I'm Max Ride; these are my siblings Crystal," Nudge stepped up "Jeff," Iggy waved "and Nick. My parents sent you a note telling you about how Jeff is blind to everything farther then three feet away, so he has to be in one of our classes. You also said something about tutors?"

"Yes, of course, here are your schedules. Jeff always has at least one of you in his class and you all have the same lunch," Mrs. Cope said while handing out the schedules. "Please get these slips signed and bring them back to me at the end of the day. I will talk with your tutors, who are the three top students of the senior class, Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, and Isabella Swan."

Edward POV

Another start of another year. The sad thing was I had started getting bored in first period without Bella with me. I thought lunch would never arrive. Now I was sitting next to her in the cafeteria, with Alice sitting across from me.

"Do we have anything interesting going on after school?" I asked Alice.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet the new kids, but I don't see them showing up," Alice said, chuckling. "Poor us, being stood up on the first day of school, shame on those new kids."

"I wonder if they're to shy. Oh, I know! We can go talk to them once they get to lunch to make them more comfortable with us!" Bella exclaimed.

"Sorry, Bella. They're not coming to lunch today." My head snapped up.

"What do you mean, Alice?" I whispered. "I can hear people thinking about them and seeing them coming to the cafeteria now."

Alice scrunched her brow. "I can see everyone else, just not them. This is so weird!" she sighed in frustration. Just then, the new kids walked into the cafeteria.

The obvious leader of the group was the girl with blond hair and brown eyes. Her eyes quickly scanned the room as they entered. The next one was about six feet tall, with dark black hair and olive skin. His eyes were so deep, they looked black. Following him was a girl with dark skin and hair, but tawny gold eyes. The last one was about six foot two, with pale skin, bright blue eyes that looked slightly glossed over, and strawberry blond hair. All of them had immortal like beauty. All of their minds were silent.

I stared in fascination at these new kids, Max, Nick, Crystal, and Jeff (I knew from other peoples' minds). They each layered their plates up with food before choosing an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria. Even when I concentrated, I could only hear a light buzzing.

"Edward, come in, earth to Edward," Bella's voice and waving hand brought me out of my trance. "If you keep staring at them like that, they'll probably run out of here screaming," Bella warned me before asking in a lower voice, "What are they thinking?"

"I don't know," I whispered back into her ear. Alice had heard me, too, but I didn't feel like saying the words truly out loud yet. There had to be something, maybe there was something affecting only vampires that made them immune to our powers. That had to be it. Maybe tutoring them wouldn't be so bad after all. Either way, I couldn't wait for the day to be over.

(Still Edwards POV)

I was sitting next to Bella in biology. She still wanted to talk to the new kids and make them feel welcome. I thought it was a good idea, but would be letting her no where near them alone until I found out what they where.

Class had just started when Max, Nick and Jeff walked into the class. Again I noticed that Nick and Jeff seemed to orient themselves around Max, while Max held her chin high in an obvious show of authority. They handed their notes to Mr. Banner. He signed the notes before introducing them.

"Class, these are the new students, Max, nick, and Jeff Ride," he said in a monotone. "Bella, why don't you move up on seat so you can help Nick? Max, you can go sit with Edward, and Jeff can sit with Mike." What?! This was my only class outside of gym and lunch where I could sit next to Bella, and she gets moved?! Not to mention, the new girl, Max, probably try to flirt with me not knowing I already have a girlfriend. I don't think it would be possible for me to be any more annoyed right now. Nick sat down in front of me and next to Bella. Max sat next to me, and Jeff sat next to her across the aisle.

"Do you think you could set me up with your sister?" mike whispered as Jeff was sitting down. Next to me Max seemed to be biting back a laugh while nick sat stiffly in his chair.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Jeff asked.

The class seemed to be taking forever with Mr. Banner lecturing. About half way through, Bella slipped a note on my desk. **(Italic is Edward, underline is Bella, and later Max is Underlined italic)**

Hey, how are you doing?

_What do you mean?_

With Max sitting right next to you. I realized after a second she was talking about Max's blood.

_To tell you the truth, I haven't noticed. You're much nicer._

Aww, how sweet!

_I wish you were still sitting next to me and we didn't have to tutor these kids after school today._

Look at the bright side, they're smart. Nick hasn't asked me about the lecture once.

_Either that or they don't pay attention._

Give them some credit; I heard that Jeff is half blind. I was about to reply when Max's hand flashed out, grabbing our note and hiding it behind a stack of paper she had propped on her notebook in her lap. Turning to ask for it back, I saw Mr. Banner was standing right over her. Had I really been so caught up in our conversation I hadn't noticed him coming? Yes, yes I had. And now Max had thrown herself under a bus by taking the note from me.

"Ms. Ride, there something you'd like to share with the class?" Mr. Banner asked in over politeness.

"Oh, are you talking about this note?" she asked in false surprise. Mr. Banner scowled.

"Please stand up and read it." He said continuing to the front of the class and sitting down in his chair.

"Okay." She glanced at me, her eyes moving down to the book on my desk. She looked at it for a minute and smiled. "This note is between me and Edward. _Hey are you Edward Cullen__? Yes, why? __You, your sister, and Bella swan are supposed to be tutoring us today.__ Oh, well, when are you guys free until? __About four o'clock when we have to pick up our younger siblings.__ Okay, how about we meet in the main office and decide where to go from their?__ Sounds good, we'll see you then._" I stared at her. She had just made it up as she went along using only my name and making the note totally boring, not the embarrassing, lesson-teaching note Mr. Banner was looking for. She sat back down while Mr. Banner was still fuming. Just then, the bell rang, adding to Mr. Banner's distress. He had wasted the last five minutes on something completely unimportant. I got up out of my seat and turned to her.

"Thanks for helping me out there," I said in genuine gratitude.

"No problem," she replied. "And we will be seeing you after school meeting at the office until, at latest, four."

"Sounds good to me," I said as I walked over and took Bella's hand. She smiled at me and Bella before walking out the door with Nick and Jeff at her side.


	3. Tutors

**Woo-hoo! I think I'm going through a slight addiction to writing this story. I hope I can finish this chapter faster than the last one! **

**Disclaimer:**** sorry, guys. Still don't own Maximum Ride or Twilight. I do, however, own three pairs of socks with pigs on them. I'm still not really sure why, though…**

**Chapter three**

**Tutors**

Edwards POV

Two of the Ride kids, max and nick, were in our gym class. They could have sat out today, but they chose to run with the rest of the class. We were doing endurance and conditioning, which meant running and weight lifting to our hearts delight. Which, for me, meant making sure Bella didn't fall or hurt herself in any way. Since today was just running, it wasn't too hard. Bella and I ran at about the middle of the group. I was trying my best not to get frustrated at the slow pace all these humans were moving at. At least it wasn't as bad as it normally would be without Bella.

At some point, I looked up to see nick and max running at the same pace near the front of the group. Their strides were long and gentle, like they were made for running. They were breathing through their noses and talking at times in a low whisper. As the class went on, I was shocked to realize that they kept their spot at the front, but never took the lead. _Like they were trying to remain under the radar_ a quiet voice in the back of my head told me.

At the end of the class, I walked into the locker room and changed quickly so I could see Bella faster. The result was me waiting outside of the locker rooms for Bella to come out. Nick walked out and leaned up against the wall next to me.

"You got it bad, don't you?" Nick said. It was the first time I'd heard him talk. I looked over at him. He had a small smile on his face and in his eyes. "I know the feeling." He stared at the locker room door.

"Who is it for you?" I wondered out loud. I had a feeling it was max, but didn't want to make the situation awkward if I was wrong.

"Max. She's not my sister, we were both adopted. She's the most amazing person in my life," he smiled for a moment before continuing, "I would die for her."

Bella and Max walked out of the locker room laughing. Nick walked over to Max and kissed her.

"Hello to you, too," she chuckled against his lips. "Hey, we'll go grab Jeff and Crystal and meet you at the main office in about 15 minutes."

"Okay, see you then," Bella said with a smile. Max smiled back before walking away arm in arm with Nick. "What do you think of them?" Bella asked me.

"I like them, they seem nice. Even if they're a little odd…" I trailed off.

"What do you mean 'odd'? They're nice! Max is hilarious!"

"Look, all I'm saying is they're not like other humans. I only hear fuzz in their minds. Not silence, just quiet noises. The closest thing I can use to describe it to is wind. They ran faster then anyone else and were breathing completely even at the end of class. I think they're nice, but hiding something."

Max's POV

Fang and I walked off to find Iggy and Nudge. As we turned the corner, Fang pushed me against the wall and attacked my lips with his own. I pressed my body closer to his as he angled his head to have better access to my mouth. He pulled away a good two minutes later.

"We have to find Iggy and Nudge and get to the main office," he whispered, his forehead pressed against mine. I sighed. Of course, he was right, we needed to find them. That didn't mean I was happy about it.

"Okay, let's go," I huffed. We wandered around the school until we found Iggy and Nudge walking out of the library.

"Hey! How did you get out of gym!" I yelled at Iggy. If fang and I had to work to keep our speed down around normal, non-mutated humans, he should too.

"I'm blind, remember? I could trip and hurt myself!" Iggy cried indignantly. "They had to put my in a freshman study so I wouldn't hurt myself." He shook his head sadly.

"So, where are we meeting our tutors," Nudge asked.

"In the main office, right now! So let's get moving," I led them back towards the main office. Of course, everyone else in the hall way was going the opposite direction. It got so bad; I channeled the air flow to go around us, creating suction so all the students would walk around us. I made it strong enough that they would have to work really hard to bump into us. I doubted they would figure out it was me, who would believe it anyway? We were almost at the office door, when a small girl with a pixie cut ran into me. I stared at her, shocked. She looked completely relaxed, like she hadn't just broken through a suction that would glue a house together.

"Oh, sorry!" the smallish girl cried. "I'm Alice Cullen, are you the new kids? Well, yeah, of course you are! I've never seen you before so, obviously you're new. I think you've already met my brother, Edward, and his girlfriend, Bella. I'm going to be tutoring you with them. Isn't that cool! I hope we'll be friends and, like, go shopping over the weekend. Won't this be so much fun?!"

"I like her," Nudge whispered in my ear. In front of me Alice laughed. How did she hear that?

"Alice, are you trying to scare our pupils?" Bella asked coming up next to Alice. "You guys should turn in those slips so we can get going."

"So you're Alice, and you're Bella, I'm guessing from you calling us pupils. But where's Edward?" nudge asked. "And Alice, we'd love to go shopping with you. But just so you know, I can shop for hours, so you better have some pretty good stores up your sleeves!" Alice squeaked in pleasure while Bella and I groaned in unison. Edward walked over and put his arm around Bella's waist. I smiled; they were just too cute together. I'd only known them for a few hours, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they were crazy about each other **(that's for my uncle who is an actual rocket scientist and the coolest one I know, at that! Okay, maybe the only rocket scientist I know)**.

"So, where are we going," Iggy asked after we dropped off our slips in the office. By the time we got to the parking lot, a light drizzle was coming down. I looked up at the blanket of clouds and couldn't stop thinking about what they looked from above. I would find out soon enough.

Bella's POV

Oh, no! Crystal sounds like a shopper, too! With her, Alice, and Rosalie, I'll be lucky to make it out alive! My only consolation was Max seemed just as keen on shopping as me. I felt Edward's arm around my waist. We walked out to the parking lot. I had driven my own car today because Edward and Alice had been hunting over the weekend before facing the rush of students. I wasn't sure what time they'd get home, so I drove myself.

"So, where are we going," Iggy asked in the parking lot.

"Let's go to our house, its closer to the middle/elementary school then the library," Edward offered.

"Sounds good to me," Max said, throwing her bag in the trunk of an old, beat up, 5 passenger car. "We'll follow you guys."

"Okay, but we're going to have to follow Bella home so she can drop off her truck," Edward said sliding into his Volvo. I hopped into my truck, and the Ride kids followed suit.

After dropping off my truck, I slid into Edward's Volvo.

"So, Alice, what do you think of the Rides?" I asked.

"The girl, crystal, is a darling. I can tell we have a lot in common. Max could use some work, but she'll be no harder to train then you, and soon she'll love shopping! Nick is totally in love with Max. He's to quiet to really understand, yet. Jeff seems to be nice and, if he really is blind, he is very good at pretending otherwise. It peeves me that I can't see their futures, I wonder what makes them different."

We were pulling up the driveway towards the Cullen's house at this point. As we stopped the car and got out, I looked over at the Ride kids getting out of their car. They were staring up at the house, but in a polite way.

"Come on! You have to meet our family!" Alice cried, still bouncing from excitement over Crystal's love of shopping. They followed Edward, Alice, and I into the house. Max whistled softly once inside.

"I like your back window," she said in admiration. Edward smiled.

"FAMILY!!!! GUESTS ARE HERE!!" Alice yelled to keep up the appearance. All the Cullens knew we were here with friends, but it would look weird if they all just appeared with no warning. I was the only human who would probably ever be used to that.

Jasper's POV

"FAMILY!!!! GUESTS ARE HERE!!" Alice yelled at the top of her lungs. I love my wife, I really do, but why, oh why, did she have to yell. We all knew there were visitors here and we had to look human, but did she have to yell? I took one last deep breath before getting up to meet the visitors. Walking downstairs, I saw four new humans.

While I was still on the stairs, I took a small breath. The burning in the back of my throat, the burning I was so used to, it never came. I took a bigger breath the closest thing that hit was a cold stinging. I knew that stinging, too. It came strongest off the blond haired girl that was standing in a position of power over the other three. I had tasted it many times before and, for a second, I was afraid.

That was the taste I'd experienced right before I had fought in my first battle as a new born. That was the taste that flowed off of Marie. That was the taste I had used to recognize formidable opponent. Every member of the Cullen family had given off this taste before my body recognized them as not a threat. It made me realize that they truly wouldn't hurt me. Marie would hurt me if the circumstances called for it. That taste was the taste of power. It was the taste of being a natural at fighting. It was the taste of fighting for your life every day.

And it was radiating of these four humans.

No, they couldn't be humans. Even the most dangerous human couldn't give off that taste. Whatever they were, they weren't human and they were _very_ dangerous.

**Wow, I got chills just writing that! If you did, too, review and tell me all about it! I'm already thinking of the next chapter that will be called "whatever they are"**


	4. What Ever They Are

**Hey guys, I'm kinda desperate here. If you guys could send in some more reviews, that would be great. A supper special thanks to xDarklightx, wingedvampiregrl, Smileyfaceofevil, goldenrose37, and 328DarkAngel who have reviewed and made my day!**

**Okay, enough of my ranting. This is going to be the last slow intro chapter. In this chapter, italics will be thoughts.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own twilight or maximum ride.**

**Chapter 4**

**What Ever They Are**

Edwards POV

Jasper was walking down the stair and nearly having a panic attack. All I could hear from his mind were small snips of _dangerous… fighting… fear…NOT HUMAN_. I immediately tensed. What ever it was that caused him to panic like that hade to be very dangerous. Especially with Bella here, what ever it was needed to be dealt with.

"What is it?" I asked in a voice to low for human ears. To my surprise, Jeff shook his head a little, like trying to rid himself of a fly. He couldn't possibly hear me. Could he?

Jasper shot a pointed look at the Ride kids. I nodded.

"Get ready to calm them down if one of them jumps. I can't hear their mind." Jasper raised his eyebrows at me.

_Why did you bring them here then?!?!_ Jasper was furious but he was doing a good job at hiding it. At this point the rest of my family had arrived.

"Everyone, these are the guys we're going to be tutoring this year," Alice said. "This is Max," Max nodded "Nick, Jeff, and Crystal." Each one had waved at their names. "Guys, this is my family Jasper, Rosalie, Emmet, Carlisle, and Esme."

"Nice to meet you all," Carlisle said, diplomatically reaching out and shaking each of their hands. When he shook Jeff's hand, Jeff jumped and looked wide eyed at Carlisle. Sometimes it was really hard to believe he was blind. He stepped back so he was by Max's shoulder. He tapped her hand three times and she nodded. I raised my eyebrows at Jasper. He was scowling back at me.

"So," max said to Carlisle, "you and Esme adopted six teenagers? You must be very brave." Carlisle laughed with her.

"Yes, it's hard sometimes, what with them all in relationships with each other," Carlisle laughed. Then his eyes grew wide. "I… they… we…um, it's not like that?" he said, trying to recover.

"It's okay, I understand," she said, laughing. "F-nick," she stuttered "and I were adopted, and now he's my boy friend. My adopted parents are missionaries and have to travel a lot. As a result, me and my siblings were home schooled for a long time. Now that me, Nick, and Jeff are 18, our parents allowed us to live in the house they lived in a while ago."

"I don't want to sound rude, but how were you orphaned," Emmet asked with more tact then usual.

"My parents couldn't afford to keep me. I was given up at birth." Crystal spoke.

"My family died in a fire and I was made partially blind." Jeff said in a monotone.

"My mother was single and didn't want me but didn't want to abort." Nick tried to shrug it off, but his eyes were burning in pain.

"My parents never wanted me," Max said in confidence. "And I don't want them. I've got the best people in the world with me now." At her words, her siblings stood a little straighter. "My other siblings, Zephyr and Ariel, are actual blood siblings. They where given up when their family went through hard times."

"Well, should we start tutoring you or what?" Bella said, trying break the awkward silence.

We spent the next hour and a half going over things we "learned" last year. We found that the Ride kids picked up concepts really fast. When it was time to go, Nick, Jeff, and Crystal got in the car and drove off. Max turned to me.

"Thank you for helping us out," she said with a smile.

"No problem," I replied. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Uhh, no. I can walk."

"No, I insist. I'm giving Bella a ride home, too." I said getting into my Volvo. I looked over at Bella, who raised an eye brow at me. "Later," I mouthed. Bella nodded and got in the passenger seat. Max glanced around before lowering herself in the back seat. I started driving while we sat in uncomfortable silence.

"Where do you live, Max?" Bella inquired politely.

"Umm… take a left there." Max seemed really nervous to tell me where her house was. I wonder if it was a little run down. "This is good," she said as we pulled up by a dirt road leading off into the forest.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I hadn't known that there was a house down there. And that was saying something.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Max jumped out of the car, waved and started running in a smooth, gentle stride down the dirt road.

Max's POV

I jogged back to our little cabin in the woods. The mist on the ground curled around my feet along the way. Iggy had signaled to me back at the Cullen's that he needed to tell me something. I hope there home by now so I can talk to them right away. That's part of the reason why I didn't tell them the direct way to our home. Also I don't like the idea of anyone knowing where we live. I hope I was just being paranoid. The Cullens seemed nice, but so did Anne and Jeb.

"Max!!" Angel cried happily before running from the front door and hugging me tightly.

"How was your first day?" I asked, hugging her back.

"It was okay, I made a few friends, my teachers haven't tried to eat me yet, so all in all, I'd say it was a good day!"

"That's my little optimist! Glad to hear it. Now every one in the living room. Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and I met this family, the Cullens, and I want to talk about it. Something about them seemed off, and Angel and Gassy should know" They nodded and sat down.

"Alright," I said once in my comfy chair. "What's up with the Cullens? There's something strange going on. When I first met them, I had to sit next to Edward, and I was on edge for every second."

"I noticed that Jasper has a very good control over his emotions, but he was afraid and angry and having a hard time staying calm." Nudge said grimly.

"During gym, he was running and I swear he stopped breathing for a few minutes." Fang added.

"Iggy, you said you had something to say earlier. So, what's up?" I asked. Iggy was quiet for a long time. He looked like he didn't want to say anything.

"The thing is," Iggy said reluctantly, "they're dead."

We were silent. Waiting for Iggy to laugh. Waiting for the punch line. It never came.

"When I shook Mr. Cullen's hand, I felt his wrist. He had no pulse. Before that, Edward and Jasper were talking in frequencies to low for normal human ears. After I shook Mr. Cullen's hand, I listened for their heartbeats. Nothing. Absolute silence."

This was like a bad dream. Sadly, in my life, this was reality. But I was sick of running away. Not this time.

"Okay, guys," I said, "here's the game plan. Be careful around the Cullens. They haven't shown any signs of aggression…yet. Don't get in situations you can't get out of. Tell me when and for how long you'll be around them. I don't know what's going on with them, but I know one thing: whatever they are, they're not human and they're dangerous.

Bella's POV

After we dropped off max, Edward and I went back to his house.

"What was that about?" I asked him as we pulled into the garage.

"The last missionaries who owned a house in forks died 20 years ago. I was confirming my suspicion that they lied about how they met each other" He answered, walking through the door. The rest of the Cullen's were still in the living room. "Really, I'm not surprised after seeing Max lie so easily in class about the note."

"You mean that they don't have parents and are living here alone?" Esme asked anxiously. "Those poor things, having to lie like that."

"Those poor things," Jasper growled, "are dangerous. I got the feeling that I usually only get before fighting another vampire when I first saw them."

"Yeah, did you guys see how Jeff kept twitching while Edward and Jasper were talking?" Rosalie added.

"Their hands were so hot, if they were normal, they should be dead," Carlisle said mostly to himself. "Not to mention that their heart beats were very fast. Maybe they're werewolves?"

"I can't see them or people they interact with, Edward can't hear them either," Alice said shaking her head. "But they're not werewolves. With a werewolf, everything goes blank. With them, only people they interact with go blank. I think they might have more control than werewolves, and that's what makes them different. I don't think they'll hurt us if we don't hurt them."

"So that settles it," Edward said. "Be carful around them. Try not to upset them. We don't know what types of things will make them crack. We don't know what they will do if they crack. Don't take risks by being alone with them. I don't know what's going on with them, but I know one thing: whatever they are, they're not human and they're dangerous.

**So there it is. Exciting, right? No? okay. If you want, you should check out my little one-shot "forever, my lamb". I think it's cute and sad, and maybe you will too! But I won't know if you don't ReViEw!!!! ;) **

**Review (Please and thank you!). hey that rhymes!**


	5. Pretenders

**Chapter 5, yippee! So, what will happen? Will they confront each other? Fight each other? Develop intense cravings for smoked salmon? Who know!!! Oh, wait, I do!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but if I owned twilight and/or maximum ride, the books would have more smoked salmon and those yummy salad croutons… mmmmm…**

**Chapter 5**

**The Pretenders**

Max's POV

The next morning, we were all in the kitchen, eating whatever we could find. I was nibbling on a piece of perfectly made toast. Iggy had tried to prove that he could cook anything better than me, and he succeeded. This was my third piece of toast after a big bowl of cereal and some oatmeal.

"So, what are we going to do about the Cullens?" Fang said through mouthfuls of cereal.

"I say we tell them we know their not normal," I reasoned. "If they know we know, they'll probably be less likely to try something. Either that or they'll get mad and we'll see just how good their control on their temper really is."

"I don't know," Iggy said. "It sounds like we're poking an angry bull in the butt."

"Nice imagery," Nudge added. "I think that Max is right. We need to know what we're up against. And if they are unstable, it would be better for us to disappear without a trace now, rather than after they know our secrets and can use them against us." I nodded, but couldn't help think that there was a time that that speech would be a record short. She was so happy when the School fell. All that happiness came tumbling down when the next week we were attacked. For almost a year after that, she had barely talked. I think she was loosing faith in the hope that we would ever live a normal life. Sometimes, after a fight, she would curl up and cry. Iggy was always there, with open arms and calming words. After that year, she started talking more, but she had never fully recovered. Sometimes, even still, she would cry into Iggy's shoulder.

"I think we should confront them," Fang added.

"Alright, as long as we're all together," Iggy accepted.

"At the beginning of the day, before the first class start, we'll let them know we know."

Alice's POV

"Edward!" I yelled. He was at my side in a second, upset because he had to come home for two seconds to change for the human charade.

"Alice," he groaned, "There are no humans here. Why must you yell?"

"Silly Edward!" I said, bouncing. "Since when do I need an excuse to full of energy?"

"Since your loud 'energy' very nearly blew my ear drums out, which I didn't think was possible. You know I was just one room away, right?"

"This is beside the point! We need to figure out what we're going to do about the Ride kids." As soon as I said it, the rest of my family had gathered.

"Leave them alone," Jasper growled, "stay away from them. Drive them out if you feel inspired. I'll help you."

"Jasper, leave them alone!" Esme scolded. "They live all alone with no parents and you're suggestion we through them out for nothing? Where will they go, a homeless shelter?

"Besides, won't it be better to let them stay here and be able to keep an eye on them?" Rosalie added.

"Confront them, make it clear if they start hurting humans of lose control, we will expose them. Say that, unless people are threatened, they are welcome at our house and their secret is safe with us," Carlisle proposed. His tone was soft, but clearly the last word.

"I'm coming if you have to talk to them," jasper said through clenched teeth.

"That's fine; you can come with Edward and me to school and pick us up after. We can say the Volvo needs repair or something," I said.

"Yeah, speaking of which, we have to go pick up Bella!" Edward exclaimed impatiently.

"Now look whose yelling grouchy face." Edward looked like he was going to kill me. "Love you to, oh brother of mine," I said with an over dramatic smile.

We finally managed to pick up Bella and got to school. Edward had briefed Bella on our way here. Max was leaning up against one of the outside tables. We all got out of the car and walked up to the girl who was pretending to be human.

Jasper's POV

We walked up to her, subtly forming an arch (Bella was behind Edward) and cornering her against the table. She looked up at us, her body and expression calm. Her eyes tightened as she took in our position and she rolled her shoulder once before addressing us.

"Hello, Edward, Bella, Alice, nice to see you this morning. And Jasper, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" her voice was deadly soft, her eyes hard.

"We need to talk to you and your family," Edward said with an equally icy voice.

"Funny, we needed to talk to you, too," she said locking into a staring contest with Edward. Edward narrowed his eyes and stared back. I could basically see the thoughts written on their faces.

Max's POV

What, a starring contest? BRING IT ON, UNDEAD BOY!!! I could keep my eyes open when going over 200 miles per hour. I'd like to see him try to keep his eyes open for 5 minutes. I'd have to blink eventually, but he _would_ cave first!

Edward's POV

Oh, she wanted a starring contest? Well I didn't have to blink! Ha! She was so going down. I'd have to blink in about 5 minutes to seem human, but she _would_ cave first! I heard jasper mentally sigh. He could wait. This was important.

Jasper's POV

About 3 minutes later, I shook Edward out of the staring contest. He turned to me with an irritated look.

"We have to get to the point before the others get here and out number us," I said in a low voice. Max shook her head.

"Could you please stop doing that?" Max asked, still shaking her head. "It really hurts my ears. I didn't notice it at the house, but you being right in front of me makes it clearer. And by now I think I know what the point is, but would you mind if we waited for my family to get here? I promised I wouldn't get to my point without them." I stiffened. She couldn't know. How did they find out? Were we even talking about the same thing? I hope not.

"Sorry," my voice was stony, "we're not working on your time schedule." She stood up straighter. Her fists clenched. Good. _Time to find out what you're made off, Max_. I shifted forward in front of Alice.

"Do you know what you're dealing with, Jasper?" she whispered, her eyes holding my gaze. They had the calculating look I'd seen only in those who had fought for their lives on a daily basis. The stinging in the back of my throat picked up.

"No, but I know my own abilities. I will fight to my death for my family." I said, getting ready for her to make the first strike. To my surprise, at my words she took a step back, her fierce eyes softening.

"So would I," she whispered her voice close to breaking. "But I won't through my life away on a pointless fight. Especially against an opponent I have no quarrel with." Her logic was good. I relaxed my position, but didn't move away from Alice. "And as you might not be working on my time schedule, but fate, it seems, is." She continued in a normal voice as Nick, Jeff, and Crystal walked across the parking lot looking murderous.

Fang's POV

They had better get away from Max. Right now. If they hurt her in any way, shape, or form, I was going to kill them. We were only a few feet away when Jasper turned around and paled. I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him away from Max.

"Wow, three against one, that's really fair," Nudge growled, stepping in front of Edward.

"What about me?" Bella asked from behind Edward.

"Sorry, Bella, I was only talking about people who aren't human. You know, those who don't have a pulse," Nudge apologized, her tone still icy. She had picked that up from Max.

I walked up next to Max and wrapped my arm around her waist. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Alright, so just to clear the air," Max said while leaning into my side. "You know there is something different about us and we know there is something different about you." They nodded collectively. Max continued, "So, shall we just go honor code, you don't tell about us and we don't tell about you unless a human gets hurt?"

"How did you know that safety would be a condition?" Edward asked suspiciously.

"What? I'm not a mind reader," Max snickered. The Cullens and Bella stiffened. Max's eyes narrowed, but she let it pass.

"We should get to class. Hey, how about we sit with you at lunch? Us pretenders have to stick together," Iggy offered, trying to ease tension. It worked. Edward smiled, Alice nodded, and Bella gave us a thumbs up from behind Edward. Jasper looked Max with respect before turning to drive the Volvo away.

The rest of the day was normal enough. It felt nice to know that we weren't alone anymore. At lunch we all sat together and laughed about normal jokes that always seemed to reference that fact that we were only pretending to be human. I had never laughed so hard with anyone but my family. Alice seemed to be set on taking Max and Nudge shopping with her and Bella. Bella and Max found common ground in their hatred of shopping, while Nudge and Alice found common ground in their love of forcing people to go shopping. Me and Edward where getting along, and Iggy was content to just make cracks at everyone at every opportunity.

After lunch, Edward and Bella walked with us to biology. We sat down and talked until Mr. Banner started the class.

"Today, class, we will be talking about genetic mutations."

Edward's POV

The Ride's weren't so bad. They took us knowing about them smoother then I thought they would. It was actually nice knowing that there were others who knew what we felt to an extent. We had laughed all through lunch due to constant jokes about how non-human we were. All the way to biology, we talked about mindless things that we had never been able to talk to with any person, not including Bella, outside our family.

When Mr. Banner started the class by announcing that we would be "learning" about genetic mutations, I sighed and prepared my self for the classic "two headed snake" lesson. When I glanced over at Max, I was shocked. She had her eyes tightly closed, her fists clenched, and her jaw tight. Maybe that's what's wrong with them; they had a mutation of some kind. It sounded very Spiderman-like, but perhaps it was just something small, like they had highly developed senses. Maybe I could ask them about it. And maybe pigs would fly. At the end of class, all the Rides were still on edge.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, this is just a touchy subject," Nick answered.

We made our way to the locker rooms and got changed for gym. We were still doing running, only today it was hurtles.

"Oh, no! I'm going to trip on one of those and die!" Bella exclaimed.

"You won't fall, trust me," Max said.

"Have you not seen how clumsy I am?" Bella asked.

"You won't fall," Max repeated.

Sure enough, when Bella and I ran the hurtles, she didn't stumble once. After, she said that it was almost like the wind was pushing her over the hurtles. When I told her there had been no wind, she admitted that it might just have been her imagination. Max and Nick raced right after us. They seemed to glide over the hurtles with no effort, like they were designed for it. They came in at the top of the class again, and weren't even tired.

"I hate going slow to keep up the human appearance," Max said after school was over and we were all waiting for Jasper to get here with the Volvo.

"You were still really fast, though," Bella said.

"Yeah, fast by human standards," Nick laughed. So, they're faster then humans, interesting. At that moment, jasper pulled up in my Volvo. Back at the house, we "studied". Which was actually more like talked and laughed some more. Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmet hung out with us for a while and got to know the Rides better. By the time they went home, we all agreed that they were alright. Just before they left, Bella asked Max why she was early this morning.

"Easy," Max replied. "Our car only has five seats and there are six of us. I walked this morning."

"Tomorrow's supposed to be cold; I'll come and pick you up," Bella offered. "I have to take my truck tomorrow because Charlie's worried about the engine not running for so long."

"Sounds good," Max smiled. "See you then." Then they left.

Nudge's POV

Wow, that was amazing! They actually accepted us! They didn't look at us like we were freaks! I was so happy! Alice had actually offered to take me shopping. They were so nice, tutoring us and being our friends. I wanted it to last. Nothing in our lives had lasted before; all we had was each other. I wanted to be friends with the Cullens, too. They made us feel like we actually belonged in this world. Like it was possible for us to have friends outside of just each other. I didn't care if their hearts didn't beat; they were the most loving people I have ever met. I would go to the ends of the earth to feel like this. To feel like this is where we belong.

**Wow, this is my longest chapter yet! Hope you guys love it! Reviews are encouraged, check out my other stuff too, blah blah blah.**


	6. False Predictions

**Hello again! Hope you like this chapter. The pace should be picking up soon.**

**Disclaimer: I tried to claim everything, but then the ex. Travelocity gnome showed up at my house and beat me with complimentary airline tickets until I gave it up. I now have a gazillion paper cuts and two complimentary airline tickets! Oh, wait, airline tickets void on March 29, 1945. Damn you, gnome. Still don't own anything.**

Chapter 6

False Predictions

Edward's POV

The next few months went by without an incident. Now it was November and almost Thanksgiving. We were always hanging out together. Our tutoring wasn't needed because, as we soon learned, they had photographic memory.

The pattern started at the beginning of the day. Bella would drive her truck over to pick up Max (at first I didn't like her driving herself, but then I figured that Max could keep her safe and with her truck being at school, there were more ways for it to get broken and for me to buy her a new car!). We would all hang out at the outdoor table before school. At lunch, we'd all sit together. Then after school, we'd go to our house and do all sorts of things.

Once, we had a cook off, Cullens (and Bella) against the Rides. Jeff, to my surprise, was the one telling everyone else what to cook and how. Another thing that surprised me was Max's ability to burn things. All she had to do was make toast, and she somehow managed to set the toaster on fire.

We also found use for our "home gym" that we had installed when Alice bought five weight machines because they were on sale. The Rides used it at least once a week, often more** (Fang bench pressing… mmmm…)**. Sometimes I would walk in and find Max, Crystal, Jeff, and Nick all sparing. It was Times like those that made me remember they weren't just normal kids. Seeing them fight, even only practice, was amazing. They were incredibly fast and always hit in perfect accuracy. They blocked each others moves in total ease, like they knew exactly what the other was doing all the time. The craziest thing was, at the end of a session that would have left any adult sore; they hadn't even broken a sweat.

Yet, however ferocious they were when they were fighting, they were still just lost kids. I remembered back to a week ago, when Crystal found my piano…

_Flashback: one week ago._

It was just a normal afternoon. Nick and Jeff were playing chess (don't ask me how), when I heard Crystal from the other room.

"WHO PLAYS THE PIANO!!!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. I ran into the room to see her sitting on the piano stool.

"I do," I said cautiously. "Why?" she ran her fingers across the keys, plunking an occasional note.

"Teach me," she whispered, her eyes still locked on the keys.

"Okay…" I trailed. Why? I guess I could, but why would she want to learn to play? "Um, you start with the notes."

An hour later, Crystal was still playing. She was pretty good. Her hands, which I was used to seeing in fists, were delicate, soft, controlled.

"Thank you," she talked for the first time since I had started teaching her. "I love the sound, but that's the first time I've ever heard it actually played. Do you mind if I try to learn to play?"

"No, I don't mind," I said, stunned. She had never heard piano before. How hard had her life been? Max walked in to see Crystal playing. She raised her eye brow, and nodded her head to the side, signaling that she wanted to talk. I got up and walked into another room with her.

"Thank you," Max said. "Crystal's been so closed off to everyone. She barely talked or expressed herself for a year after… well, let's just say there's a reason we fight so well." With that Max walked away.

They were all so young, and yet they were old.

_End flashback._

The Rides had just pulled into the parking space next to mine, pulling me out of my flashback. That and the intense shaking that was going on in my arm. Looking down, I saw Alice trying to get my attention.

"You'll never believe this," she said with a smile on her face. "Tyler is going to hit Bella's car, again!" she simultaneously showed me her vision of Tyler hitting Bella's empty car. Bella was nowhere in sight in the vision, so I figured this would be a good way to get her a new car.

"Are you sure Bella won't get hurt?" I asked, just to be safe.

"Yes, I don't see any scenario with her anywhere near the car," Alice smiled. Nick looked over at Alice and I grinning like mad folk, shrugged, and sat down on the edge of their car to wait for Max. Bella pulled into the parking lot and parked about half way across. She got out of the car with her head thrown back in laughter. It was then I noticed something was very wrong.

Tyler's car had already started skidding. Bella should be gone by this point. Why was she still there? Alice said she was safe. The sound of Bella's passenger seat door slamming made everything clear.

Max.

Max made Bella disappear in Alice's vision. And now, Tyler's car was in between me and Bella.

I saw Max's eyes widen at the oncoming vehicle.

Before I could do anything, her eyes hardened. She jumped, clearing the top of Bella's truck. Pivoting in the air, she landed with her forearms braced on either side of Bella's head and her back towards the skidding car.

Then the car hit.

It felt like time had stopped.

"Max!" Nick yelled while jumping off the car and running over. I was right behind him. We finally reached the wreck and Nick pulled the car away mostly by himself in his rush

"Oh, my god!"

**I was going to end it here, but I'm nicer then that!**

Max's teeth and eyes clenched shut, her arms still locked in a protective cage around Bella. They had caused small dents in Bella's truck, and Tyler's car had a weird pattern pressed into it where her back had been. I could smell the sent of blood coming off her, but it was like werewolf blood, instinctively off limits. Not that it smelled bad, it actually smelled really good. The only thing that could describe it was wind. Endless wind.

But I didn't care. Nick ran to her and took her into his arms. I did the same with Bella. She was completely unharmed.

"Edward," she said looking up at me. "How did Max get there? She just appeared right before the van hit."

"She jumped," I stated.

"Oh, that would explain why she's so good at hurdles. If she can jump over cars, hurdles must be small play." I smiled. Bella was obviously unharmed. But what about Max? Looking over, I saw Nick had rolled up her sleeve to reveal heavy bruises and a few jagged cuts along her arms. I was about to look away when a light scar caught my eye. On her wrist. Was that what I thought it was? It better not be. Over the past months, their minds were becoming clearer. I still couldn't see much, but I did see that her siblings were so attached to her that if she died, they wouldn't last very long.

"How is your back?" I asked, still upset about her scar. "I'll get you to the hospital." She looked at me with horror.

"No," she said in a low rush because people were beginning to arrive. "Tell them I'm fine. That we got out of the way in time. I can't go to the hospital. If I do, we'll have to leave."

"Okay," I said, giving her a confused look. She just turned on her heal and walked away.

The rest of the day, she flinched when someone touched her back. I wanted to tell, but wouldn't. She saved Bella's life, it was the least I could do.

Max's POV

"Oww!" I muttered once we finally got home. The entire flock had made a big deal about what I did. I tried to shrug it off, but Fang saw through me. I was now in my room and he was helping me take off my sweat shirt, so I could stretch my wings through the holes in the back of my T-shirt. I had extended my wings when I was hit by the car, to brace the impact a bit. The problem was, I think that left them bleeding. When Fang finally pealed of my sweat shirt, he groaned.

"Oh, Max," he whispered in pain. I looked around and saw my wings in the mirror. Oops.

They were caked with blood that made my feathers stick together. Long bruises were visible underneath my feathers. Fang got a wet towel and started gently rubbing them. His strong hands being careful and soft.

"Why did you have to do this?" he asked. "You scared the death out of me."

"I couldn't let her die." He would understand that. I couldn't let her die if there was something I could do to stop it. I would have created and air current, but there was no time. I did the only thing I could. She was never in any danger with me, saving people was in my instincts.


	7. Cruelty

**Okay, so you'll all be happy to know that I finally managed to get that weird gnome to leave me alone. Also, incase your interested, I have a new story going on Bree, the vampire killed at the end of New Moon, so if you want to check it out and review, that would make my day a little more fun and/or exciting.**

**Disclaimer: my wish list is rights to twilight and Maximum ride. Needless to say, I haven't gotten either.**

**Chapter 7**

**Cruelty**

Jasper's POV

Starting tomorrow was thanksgiving break. I was happy. That means Alice doesn't have to go to school for a week, and I can stop sitting around the house all day waiting for her to come home. Right now, it was exactly noon.

Words cannot express how bored I was without Alice.

Soon she would be home, and so would the Rides. I had to admit, the Rides were growing on me. The other day, Jeff wired a bomb all by himself! Not even I knew how to do that. Yet it seemed that every new thing we learned about them, the shadier their background became. I mean, how many 18 year olds would every have the need to make a bomb, outside of personal entertainment. Not to mention the time I walked in on Crystal on our computer, ordering all sorts of explosives. When I asked her about it, she assured me that she had done so much work on it, that it was impossible to trace it anywhere and that should anyone try, they would come up to the FBI's homepage. To me, it looked like Max was the leader, Nick was the protector, Jeff was the bomb technician, and Crystal was the hacker.

They weren't bad, though, even if they had done bad things. I could see now, they weren't bad. Max had saved Bella from being hit by a van at her own expense. When I asked her about it, she shrugged it off like it was nothing. Everyone in the house could smell blood on her.

Sighing I looked at the clock. It read 12:01. Great. I can't wait until Alice gets home.

_Later that night_

Max's POV

Finally! After months of school, we get a vacation! The sun was setting and the flock and I were flying in the cloudless (for once) sky. It felt so perfect. Looking at my flock, they all looked happy and clean. I was glad, this was what they deserved. I glanced at Fang, who was glancing at me. We both smiled. The flaky shale below us was a red color in the sunset. We were flying above some mountains, a ways from Forks. The air was nice and cool at 200 feet. We didn't want to risk any people seeing us. It was so peaceful.

"Max!" angel called nervously. "I'm picking up what seems to be erasers about three miles to the west!" Damn it! I didn't even say it this time!

"What do you guys want to do?" I asked.

"I'm with you, Max. What you say goes," Fang said. The rest of the flock nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'm tired of running away," I said. "Angel, how many are there?"

"About thirty flying this way with something else that I can't exactly pick up." She answered. We could do that. Thirty was easy with our powers. It would be even easier in the growing dark. It was the something else that bothered me. We had seen a lot of things, and for Angel to not recognize something was a big deal.

"Alright! Get in formation!" I yelled. "If I say retreat, retreat. If we get split up, meet at the Middle School parking lot. That will lead them away from our house."

"Don't worry, Max," Nudge said from under me. "Thirty is child's play!" that's Nudge, trying to put a good face on things. We could beat them; we just had to fight hard. I could faintly feel painful emotion running over Nudge's skin and floating in the air around her. Gasman smiled before shaking foot long spikes of flames out from his fists. Fang's shape blurred next to me as he prepared to turn invisible. Angel had her eyes closed in preparation for mind control. Iggy had his head motionless, facing west. I started feeling the air currents around me.

We were ready.

I almost felt bad for the sorry erasers who had to face us; they would be outmatched in seconds now that we were battle ready. Almost.

The erasers were close enough that we could see them. The weird thing was they were flying in a formation. It turns out about half the erasers had escaped the school and had joined some of the groups who were still trying to kill us, but never before had I seen them fly in formation. That along with the fact that Angel didn't recognize the mind of one of them, made me grow a little nervous.

"Let's go," I said coldly. We immediately fell into formation with me at the point. Using the air currents, I created a cone around us. We met the erasers with a bang. I allowed the air to carry me through to the center of the erasers. To my surprise, the erasers had only formed a circular shell with a hollow center. In that center, with ice blue wings to match his eye, hovered Omega.

Fang's POV

Max forced herself through to the center of the mass of erasers. I made myself invisible and followed after her. Around me, the others were crashing through the erasers, too. All powers where unsheathed. Once I broke through the thin layer of erasers, what I saw made my blood run cold. Max was squaring off against a boy who looked about our age, wings and all. The erasers were hovering around like fans in an arena, just watching. Nudge and Angel gasped.

"That's Omega!" Nudge snarled. Omega. He had much to answer for. He was smiling at us.

"Hello, everyone. You know who I am and I know who you are, so I'll just get to the point," Omega said sneering. "I survived when you destroyed Itex. You shouldn't have, but I'll let that slide. Now, all I need is to kill you, Max, in one on one combat, like I should have four years ago. I don't care what the rest of you do, but you must not interfere with me as I kill Max."

"Fat chance," Gasman snarled, the fire on his fists flaring out. "You can't kill Max, and we defiantly won't sit here and watch if you can."

"I was expecting that," he said with a cruel smile. All at once, the erasers started attacking and Omega flew at Max.

I became invisible and started throwing punches. Good thing I'd kept in shape. The others were fighting hard. These erasers where stronger then normal. We were forced to fly above them due to their overwhelming numbers. Numbers we could take with Max fighting next to us.

Above us, Max and Omega were fighting like titans. Max had the upper hand. On the ground, she was formidable and might be an even match for Omega. In the air, she was in her element. She was deadly. She had pushed him under her so his wings were exposed to her kicks and jabs. I was yanked out of starring at her by and eraser's claws against my jaw. The cut was shallow, but bleeding. Damn. Now that I was bleeding, the erasers could see me. Well technically, they could only see the cut, but I didn't want them aiming at my face. I dived into the mass of erasers and fought hard for a few minutes before flying back up for a break. Then everything slowed down.

Max was a little cut up, but Omega was worse. An eraser grabbed Nudge's arm with it's teeth. Nudge cried out, and Max saw what was happening. She dived past Omega, pulled the eraser off Nudge, and punched him in the mouth. As she was pulling back to punch the eraser again, Omega landed on her back, pinning her wings and arms to her body. He tucked his own wings into a nose dive. Max was trying to break his grip, but not succeeding. Omega got ten feet above the ground, snapped his wings open, and pushed Max down onto the rock and shale.

That's when time went from slow to stopped.

No.

"Max!" I don't know who screamed it, it could have been anyone. It could have been me. I saw her try to push herself up before falling back to the ground, unconscious.

The rock around her was bloody red again, but the sun was long gone.

I had to get down there. I tried furiously to break through the wall of erasers. They just smiled their cruel smiles and laughed their cruel laughs. Omega laughed to the sky.

"See, I have beat the great Maximum Ride!" he yelled. "Just as it was meant to be!" with that, he flew off, the erasers following him.

All five of us nearly fell from the sky to get to Max. I reached her first and flipped her onto her back. Her entire left side was torn up. Iggy landed next of me, put a hand on her heart and groaned.

"Fang, we got to get her to a hospital. Her heart beat is weaker already. She's losing so much blood, and I wouldn't be surprised if some bones are broken." Iggy said, worry written all over his face.

"Let's take her to the Cullen's," Nudge said. "Mr. Cullen is a doctor, and they already know a little about us. Max would want this to get out to as few people as possible."

I nodded, picking up Max and pressing her cut side against me to try and slow blood loss. Everyone got in formation and we took off towards the Cullen's mansion. Looking around, I saw no one else was in great shape. Nudges arm hung limp at her side, Iggy had cuts and bruises all over his body, Gasman had various burns and claw marks, and Angel had a long cut across her shoulder. This was very bad. I just hoped we could make it to the Cullen's in time.

Edward's POV

We were all sitting around the living room, talking about how this would be the first time we had ever made a thanksgiving dinner. Bella was staying here over the vacation because Charlie was going on an extended fishing trip. She was currently sitting next to me, blushing at Emmet's plan to "cook all the turkeys on the Olympic peninsula" for our main course. Suddenly I felt six fuzzy minds at the edge of my range. It had to be the Rides, but they were coming toward the house at a weird angle, traveling very fast.

"Hey guys," I said, "the Rides are coming."

"Oh, that reminds me! We should invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner!" Esme exclaimed.

"We'll need more turkeys, though," Emmet said. Just then, jasper gasped. In his mind, I saw what the Cullen's were feeling.

Horror, fear, guilt, pain, despair.

"Everyone, get ready," Jasper said. "They're really shaken up. Something is very wrong. They could attack."We all tensed and waited for them to arrive. I stood in front of Bella; ready to run her away should fighting break out. Finally, they were at the front door. One of them started banging on it.

"Help! Please, Mr. Cullen! Max is going to die! Help!" It was Nick's voice, punctuated with the steady pounding against the door. Carlisle's eyes widened before he yanked the door open. In the door stood Nick, holding Max in his arms. Behind him were Jeff, Crystal, and two smaller children both with blond hair and blue eyes who I assumed were Ariel and Zephyr. Max's wings were limp.

Wait. Wings?

Sure enough, there were two, large, beautiful wings lying limp, attached to her back.

They were angels.

Then I saw the blood. It was all over all of them, even little Ariel. But the worst was Max. Her entire side was cut open. Her blood was staining Nick's shirt. It was even flowing down her wings. Nick's cheek was sliced open, Crystal's arm and shoulder looked like they had been bitten by an animal. The others were bleeding, too. But instead of looking like they were in pain, they looked terrified. What sort of monster would do something that would cause this much pain to angels?

_Demons, like us; vampires _I thought miserably. What else could it be?

Ariel's eyes snapped up to my face, and she jumped in front of Max and Nick.

"Fang! Get her out of here!" she screamed. "They're vampires!"


	8. Broken Angels

**Answering some questions I got: **

**Omega's personality- I'll go into more detail later, but basically scientists have given him more power that they wanted him to use to kill Max. They were so focused on getting that message across to him, that he started feeling emotions like hatred, malice, and some jealousy that Max was stronger then him. He might have acted robot like in MR3, but he still has a living brain. In MR3, he didn't really know how to use it for anything other then fighting and the scientists didn't care. But since the fall of Itex, they're not taking any chances. Omega is now a super human; robot-like power and energy, human thoughts and emotions.**

**Omega and Max are evenly matched **_**on the ground**_**. The key to Max having the upper hand is her flying ability. Like with the first version of flying erasers: they weren't born with wings, so they could never be as natural in the sky as any of the Flock. The Same principal applies. Omega is stronger then in MR3, but Max is stronger too. This is the first time they've met in four years, so the scientists don't know of her power over air.**

**Edward thinks everyone in the Flock is a real angel. That is the only thing that he feels can explain the wings. He figures that if vampires (or demons, as he sees it) can exist naturally, so can angels.**

**Hope that answers your questions, ****afraidofeverestlove. If it doesn't, don't hesitate to PM me. Thanks for asking! If anyone else has questions review or PM me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or maximum ride, but what really gets me down is that I also don't have a chariot that can be pulled by ferrets. I mean, how else would someone like me travel? Don't answer that.**

**Chapter 8**

**Broken Angels**

_Last time_

"_Fang! Get her out of here!" Ariel screamed. "They're vampires!"_

Edward's POV

How did she know? I looked at my family, who had similar expressions of confusion. We didn't have much time to think, because a second after Ariel revealed us, Nick backed up and Jeff, Crystal, Ariel, and Zephyr jumped in. they all took fighting stances and Nick snapped out giant, deep black wings. Their eyes were cold. Almost cruel. They were warrior angels, fierce and uncontrolled power.

Jasper sent a calm wave out to everyone. They relaxed their positions slightly. Then Crystal jumped.

"How did you do that?" Crystal asked, wide eyed.

"Do what?" Jasper replied.

"Change emotions." Again, the silence was deafening.

"We don't have time for this!" Nick shouted. "Max is dying! Are you safe? Will you help us?"

"Yes," Carlisle answered. "We won't hurt you. We'll help you, if you let us."

"We don't have a choice, Fang," Zephyr said. Nick nodded.

"Alright," said Carlisle, "bring Max in and put her on the couch. Alice, get some towels; Rosalie, my bag. Nick, do you know Max's blood type?"

"Yeah, you'll have to take blood from us," Nick said, caring Max over and gently laying her down on the couch. "We all have a unique blood type. It's not found in humans." Emmet stepped up.

"Why are they calling you 'Fang'?" Emmet asked. Nick sighed.

"That's my real name. Jeff is Iggy, Crystal is Nudge, Zephyr is Gasman, and Ariel is Angel."

"What is Max's name?" I asked. Nick smiled.

"Max is still Max. Her name is Maximum Ride. We just borrowed her last name."

_One hour and several medical terms later…_

Max was lying on the couch, still unconscious. Her head was in Fang's lap as he ran his fingers through her hair, every now and then leaning down to kiss her unresponsive lips. Iggy sat on the floor against the leg of the chair, his hand over Max's heart. He was acting as a monitor because their hearts were to fast to be hooked up without the monitor sending alert signals. Nudge was sitting on the back of the couch, stroking one of Max's wings. Gasman was next to Iggy, stroking Max's other wing. Angel lay on Max's legs while holding her hand. They all had tears in their eyes. Nudge, Iggy, and Fang had all given lots of blood, despite their own injuries. Angel and Gasman gave blood too, but Fang made them stop.

I had asked them several times about their story, but Fang kept saying Max would explain it when she woke up. Not if. When. They knew she had to wake up. Without her, they wouldn't be here. Surprisingly, Angel's mind was a little clearer then the others. That how I saw exactly how much they needed her. Glimpses of Angel's mind showed me that much.

Max stirred and brought me out of my observations. Her eyes cracked open.

"How long have I been out?" she whispered, her voice rough.

"About an hour," Fang answered gently.

"How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad." Max nodded.

"Gasman, can you and Fang go to the house," her voice was still soft. "I have a bad feeling that Omega found it."

"Max, I don't want to leave you," Fang complained.

"You're the strongest right now, you have to go," Max's tone was final.

"As you wish." He whispered, kissing her quickly and getting up. He swept out his purple-black wings and jumped through the door into the air. Gasman followed, his brown and white wings mimicking Fang's.

"So," Carlisle said entering the room, "what are you?"

"Let's wait for Fang and Gasman to come back before we start," Max offered.

"Alright, but can I have just one question?" a small smile touched Max's lips.

"One," She granted

"How are you talking right now? That injury should have kept you unable to communicate for a least a few days, but it's only been about an hour."

"Easy, we heal fast. We have to." Everyone was silent again. After a few minutes, I felt Fang and Gasman coming into range. Angel sat up and started to cry.

"Come here," Max whispered. Angel snuggled next to Max's unharmed side. Max hugged her and began stroking her hair. Nudge got off the couch and sat down next to Iggy who threw his arm around her shoulders. Fang and Gasman slammed through the door looking ready to kill.

"Gone!" Gasman shouted. "All of it! Burned to the ground!" angry tears were falling down his face. "The only home we've ever had that was safe," he said softer, "gone."

Angel let out a quiet sob. Max let her head fall back against the arm of the couch with a look of pain sketched over her face. Iggy slammed his fist down onto the floor. A small shock wave rippled out from his fist.

Everyone in the room stopped and stared. Max smiled.

"I was wondering if you were going to develop a fighting power," Max said. Iggy turned his head towards her.

"To bad it didn't develop a few hours earlier, huh?" Iggy said, flexing his fingers. He clenched his hand into a fist again and a small explosion rippled out. Smiling, he extended his arm and jerked his fingers forward. A small boom echoed through the house. The shock wave pushed me back a step. "It feels like a sound barrier," Iggy explained. "It's like an extension of my sight…" he trailed off.

"Wait, you said you were blind," Emmet said.

"It's best if we start from the beginning," Max said before anyone else could reply. "First, you tell us about yourselves." Jasper narrowed his eyes and Rosalie tensed up. "We don't give up secrets easily," Max explained. "You giving up your secrets will make us feel more comfortable telling ours. Like we have assurance that you won't hate us right away because we're … not human." I was about to object when Carlisle spoke up.

"We'll tell you our tale," Carlisle said. He then proceeded to tell the tale of our creation and eating habits. The angels all sat with their eyes fixed on their polar opposites through out Carlisle's story. I still couldn't believe that angels like them would be shy about telling their past. They kept their faces expressionless, but I could tell from brief flicks of their wings that some things upset them. Max seemed particularly flustered when Carlisle talked about how venom was the key to how new vampires were created. Once Carlisle was done explaining, Max tapped Fang and Iggy. Together, they pulled her up carefully so she was sitting up.

"Thank you for trusting us," Max started, but Angel interrupted her.

"We're not angels, you know," she said staring at me. How did she know? I could only think of one explanation. "I can read minds too. Your minds are harder to read but if you repeat a thought or think it strongly, I can hear it. We're not angels." Max's eye's tightened at Angel's announcement. She didn't deny it.

"Angel's right. We aren't angels. Just mutants. 98% human, 2% avian. Created by scientists."

Rosalie's POV

My family listened in horror as Max retold their story of the time they lived at the School to when they escaped and brought Itex down. They had experienced so much. It made me furious when Max told me of how they had been taken from their parents. Those sick people, stealing babies from parents and changing them forever. How dare they? Don't they know that some people dream their whole lives and never get a child? How could they take something so precious and risk killing it for a stupid experiment.

When Max told us how little Angel and Gasman were sold to the scientists by their parents, I nearly screamed. How dare they?! Was it possible for people to be so heartless?

My fury mounted as she told of her half brother that died at age seven because those _monsters_ wanted another murderer.

Edwards POV

We all sat in silence after Max had gotten up to the present in her story. She then explained each of their powers to us just as Carlisle had explained our powers to them. Once she had finished she looked up at us again, lingering on each of our faces.

Even after I heard their story, I still couldn't see why they didn't think they were angels.

**I underlined the change in POVs to help eliminate confusion. Sorry if I glossed over the explanations but I figured you already knew that stuff so it would be boring. Incase the last sentence was confusing, what Edward meant was "I can't believe all the good these people have done even though they're so young and had no one to look to but each other."**


	9. Walking Again

**I realized the other day that I never know how to start these author notes at the beginning of chapters. Oh well. So I wanted to ask all you faithful readers to head on over to my other story called ****A War I Didn't Start****. I'd also like to say I AM SO, SO, SO SORRY FOR BEING A JERK AND NOT UPDATING! It was very rude of me. Please forgive me!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even a clock or calendar, apparently.**

**Chapter 9**

**Walking Again**

Max's POV

Breathe in. Ouch. Breathe out. Ouch.

Maybe I should have waited until I could breathe normally until I told the Cullens the tragic story that is our lives. The Cullens were still in stunned silence. Nudge broke it.

"How do you control emotions, Jasper?" she asked. Jasper looked up from his hands.

"The same way you do, I presume," Jasper said as if he was asking a question in return. Nudge shook her head

"I need physical contact, but when I have it I can tell past emotions as well as current ones. I can also project intensified emotions to a person through contact. You didn't need contact to change our emotions, though," Nudge pressed, a slight crease forming between her eyes.

"No, I don't need physical contact," Jasper answered. "What do you mean by 'intensified emotions'?"

"I mean I use my control over emotions as an offence."

"Can you show me?" Nudge looked uncomfortably at Jasper.

"I don't think you want me to do that," she said, looking at her feet.

"Please, just once," Jasper pleaded. "Show me how powerful you are." Nudge started walking slowly towards Jasper. Her eyes were warning his. She finally got over to him and placed a hand on his forehead. Closing her eyes, she got ready to cannel emotions.

"I'm sorry," She whispered before letting her power go.

Edward's POV

Nudge's power caused Jasper to whimper and sink to his knees. I clenched my eyes shut as I felt him lose control of containing the emotion Nudge was sending. Waves of pain, panic, and despair rolled over me. Bella leaned into my side, soft crying breaking from her lips. Alice was holding the door frame for support. Carlisle had his arms around Esme. Rosalie sat down on the floor next to Emmet. The worst part was I knew that what we were feeling had been deluded a little by Jasper's vain attempts to hold it back.

All the Rides were leaning against each other with their eyes tightly closed, breathing deep. All except Iggy. He sat straight with a small amount of pain touching his sightless eyes. Nudge drew her hand away from Jasper's face.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

"What _was_ that?" Emmet asked, still holding Rosalie.

"That's what I felt when Max…fell," Nudge whispered.

Rosalie was screaming in her head. _She's just a child! She shouldn't have to feel this!_ Her breathing picked up. If she could cry, she would be. Instead, she walked over and hugged Nudge. "_I'm_ sorry," she whispered. Esme followed her lead.

"Come on, we must have some food in the kitchen," Esme said. "I'll get you guys something." Nudge, Angel, Gasman, and Rosalie followed Esme into the kitchen. Iggy was about to follow when Max's hand landed on his shoulder. He immediately sunk back down to be sitting on the floor. Once the others were in the kitchen, Max addressed the other two.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered. "Is the house really gone?"

"Everything," Fang said. "The house, the car, everything we owned. Burned to the ground." Iggy's head fell forward, Max's eyes flared.

"You may all stay here as long as you like," Carlisle offered.

"Thank you," Max said. "We may take you up on that. Guys, what should we do?"

"Stay. We can train more. You can take Omega. You did last time," Iggy reasoned.

"Yeah, but I almost lost. Not to mention that was on the ground!" Max murmured, shaking her head. "He literally drove me out of the air." She seemed humiliated by that. I hadn't seen her fly, but surely getting out flown would be something to be embarrassed about.

"Yeah, because you were trying to help Nudge, and you wouldn't have to do that if we had been paying better attention!" Iggy and Max were whisper screaming at each other by now. Fang was pinching the bridge of his nose. I could sympathize.

"I think we should stay here," he spoke up. "What good would running do at this point? We have home field advantage here. Let them come, we know the landscape. We know the weather. Bring it on."

"Gee, that was totally revolutionary Fang!" Iggy said in mock excitement. "I agree, though. They will only follow us anyway."

"Why are you so snappy today, Iggy?" Max asked.

"We were beaten in our element and you went down trying to help Nudge." Iggy answered closing his eyes. "I could've stopped it."

"Dude, sorry but you're blind. You have every right to miss things every now and then." Max softened her voice a little. "I think we should stay, too. But if things get dangerous, we leave." I saw her eyes flick around my family, pausing on Bella. She then raised her voice to include the rest of us.

"Hey Carlisle, how much time until I heal?" she asked.

"A human would take about a month to heal, probably a week at least to be semi-active again." Carlisle said.

"Damn," she whispered under her breathe.

"I would like it if you stayed here so we can detect any infections early. If this gets infected and you don't treat it right away, you could be crippled." Max winced.

"It's okay, Max," Fang said. "Remember when I was beat up? It wasn't that long. You'll be up in a few days and flying in a week or two." Carlisle's eyebrows shot up. I had a similar reaction. A week or two? That was an unheard of rate of recovery. Still, I was excited to see them fly. Their wings alone were magnificent. In the air, I can only imagine they would be more glorious.

Angel, Nudge and Gasman walked back into the room carrying platefuls of food. _They wouldn't eat away from the others_ Esme thought to me. Max smiled at them and they smiled back. Angel laid one of the giant plates on Max's lap.

"Dig in!" Gasman cried out, spearing a piece of ham with his fork. The Flock ate every bite of food that was on the plates. Nudge picked up the plates and brought them back to the kitchen before sitting down shoulder to shoulder to Iggy. Max tilted her head back to look at Fang. Fang nodded.

"Guys, we're staying here for a little while," Max said. Angel broke into a full smile. Gasman nodded nonchalantly, but his eyes were gleaming and kept darting from Max to his pocket. Nudge sighed and leaned into Iggy's shoulder.

"The Cullens have offered to house us for the time being," Max continued. "I expect everyone to be polite to them. That means: no mind puppet Angel, No experimenting with powers in the house Iggy, no giving people random mood swings Nudge, no invisible spying Fang, and no playing with fire Gasman. On that note Gasman and Iggy, I'm confiscating all things that go boom. That includes the bomb you have in your pocket, Gasman. Did you think I was that dumb?" Gasman grumbled as he and Iggy fished out bombs from their pockets. I counted a total of 15. The look Emmet had on his face was worrying me. That and the fact "_think of all the things that I could explode if I knew how to make bombs like that" _was the only thought that was going through his head.

"Carlisle, you've let me down!" Iggy said while digging the 15th bomb from his shoe. "Couldn't you have drugged her so she wouldn't catch us?"

"Nice try," Max said, tucking away the last bomb, "like I would let him near me with anything that smelled remotely similar to a drug." Again, a moment passed where we, as in my family and Bella, were silently wondering what had happened to make them like that. They had told us their story, yet at times they edited. Throughout their story their faces had remained impassive yet their wings flared and their eyes flashed when certain points where brought up. Max hadn't gone into detail about what had happened at the School. She just said it was very bad.

"Come, I'll show you to the guest room." Esme said and started leading towards the stair case at human speed. Max nodded them off, and they leapt into the air.

Seeing the Flock airborne was unimaginable. Iggy took off first on his pale grey wings. He rose to the top of the stairway with one hard downward stroke. Nudge was next, following close behind on her tawny wings. Angel and Gasman darted after in another flurry of wind. Wind continued to build around Max.

"Max, not yet," Fang cautioned. The wind stopped. Max sighed in frustration.

"I want to get up!" she complained while staring up at Fang. Fang stared back.

"You will not get up for at least the next two days," He ordered. They glared each other down for a few seconds before Fang smiled and leaned in to kiss her. "Two full days," he whispered against her lips. Max rolled her eyes and smiled. I heard Alice do an "_awwww" _in her head. Bella leaned into me, her eye lids fluttering.

"You look tired, love," I whispered, putting my arm around her waist to hold her up. Bella nodded. She should have been sleeping awhile ago. I lifted her into my arms. For once she didn't protest. I turned to take her upstairs to my room when Esme came back downstairs. Close behind were the others in the flock. They jumped over the edge and half extended their wings, slowing their decent. All landed softly on bent knees and used their wings to propel them over to Max and Fang. Max smiled over at her family and they met hers with their own. All of them curled up around the couch using their wings as blankets.

"I'll take first watch," Iggy murmured as the rest of the Flock fell into quiet sleep. Their faces turned smooth and the masks they wore slipped. I could see, for the first time.

They were young. And they were scared.

**I hope that makes up for part of the inexcusable time I was gone. Please forgive me! *goes in the corner and sobs* **


	10. Penguin Party

**Ahhhhhhh! Finals start tomorrow! The stress is short circuiting my brain. Now some of you might be asking why I have finals at the end of January. The answer is really quite simple: I HAVE NO FREAKIN' IDEA!!! My bets are on the "myth" that my superintendent is crazy and gets some sort of sick pleasure by messing with reason and our poor, hormonally-stressed out minds. Ha ha ha, what an amazing sense of humor you have, DiamondSummit. Oh, why thank you DiamondSummit, you're awfully funny too. Hey, DiamondSummit, maybe we should take a break from this fabulous internal conversation with our multiple personalities and write something people actually care about. Great idea DiamondSummit!**

**Disclaimer: we own nothing.**

**Chapter 10**

**Penguin Party**

**Jasper's POV**

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. _Sigh._ Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk…

"Max, could you please find another way to amuse yourself?" Edward asked, not looking up from his book. Bella was out shopping with Alice, Angel, Rosalie, and Nudge. Fang, Iggy, and Emmet had gone out looking for any remains of the fight. Esme and Carlisle were out getting food, taking Gasman with them to judge the amount of food. That left Edward and I to look after the cripple.

Max was not doing a good job handling recovery. It was the afternoon of the second day and she could get up at around sunset. Carlisle had checked her wounds every two hours to make sure nothing healed wrong. Her cuts were already scabbed up. Carlisle predicted she would indeed be back to normal in about a week. Until then, she had contented herself by playing with a yoyo. However, instead of attaching the string to her finger, she just threw it to the ground and sucked it up into her hand again with air currents.

In response to Edward's question, she threw the yoyo at the back of his head. It hit with a resounding crack, causing Edward's head to jerk forward. I felt his irritation rise. Between his irritation and Max's impatience, I was not comfortable, to say the least. Edward spun around to grab the yoyo but Max had already whipped it back into her hand.

Edward glared. Max snickered. I groaned. I could almost hear the western showdown music coming on.

"Please. Don't. Do. That." Edward growled. You didn't need to be a mind reader to see the evil thoughts flitting across Max's mind before she settled with an evil grin. _Why Edward? Why can't you just let it go? Please?_ Edward shot a furious glance at me. I took that as him saying that he would not let it go.

Max started dropping the yoyo on the floor again. This time she kept constant eye contact with Edward, whose jaw clenched with every _thunk_. Finally, he darted out and grabbed the yoyo before Max could catch it.

Now Edward sat back, rolling the yoyo into the air, the string firmly attached to his finger. Max jerked her wrist suddenly and the yoyo string went taut with the yoyo itself straining to reach her hand. Edward pulled the yoyo back. Max pulled it forward. The tug of war continued for about five minutes until the poor yoyo string snapped, sending Edward falling backwards and the yoyo itself rocketing towards Max's head. Edward caught himself before landing. Max yelped and ducked out of the way just before the yoyo flew by and hit Esme's favorite vase, smashing it to pieces.

"Edward! What have you done?!" Max yelled. Though she was trying to keep a straight face, I could see the corners of her mouth turn up. Edward looked ready to kill to an outsider, but I felt amusement bubbling up against his own will.

"Me?! You were the one to try to vacuum up the yoyo!" Edward shouted back.

"You stole the yoyo!"

"You provoked me!"

"You gave me the yoyo!"

"No I didn't!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Alice gave this to me."

"Alice!" Edward growled. "I bet she somehow figured out what would happen."

"So we can blame Alice for this?" Max asked. They met each other's gaze again, nodded once, and went back to what they were doing beforehand. Sadly, this meant Edward was reading and Max was bored out of her mind. This time she didn't even have a yoyo to play with. I felt bad that they were blaming Alice for this, but their accusations were probably true. This seemed like something my Alice would do.

"This is so boring. Is this what it's like all the time? Being flightless, I mean. We're like penguins! We can have a penguin party, and act like those dancing penguins with happy feet! Only I can't dance for another two hours and Edward would probably end up hurting himself if he tried, so it looks like it's up to you, Jasper! Make those flightless Antarctic birds proud!" Max rambled.

"Max, please stop," Edward said without looking up. She sighed and stopped talking. For about twenty seconds.

"Jasper, I'm bored." Max stated.

"I know."

"Can you find me another yoyo?"

"I would, but Edward might kill me."

"Oh, okay." Five minutes passed before Max started talking again. "Edward, how much longer?"

"Two hours," Edward replied, flipping back to his page in the book he was reading before the yoyo incident. Silence lasted five seconds.

"Has it been two hours, yet?"

"No, Max."

Ten seconds later.

"Has it been two hours, yet?"

"No, Max."

Ten more seconds later.

"Has it been two hours, yet?"

"No Max! It has NOT been two hours yet. Please, is there nothing else you can do?" I yelled.

"Well, I had a yoyo, before _someone_ broke it…" Max mumbled. This was going to be a long two hours. But I really had no idea. My ultimate fear was realized when Max broke out into song.

"Ten thousand bottles of beer on the wall! Ten thousand bottles of beer!!!!"

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~One hour, forty five minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

**Bella's POV**

Finally, after hours of shopping, we were home. My afternoon was worse due to the fact that I was the only one who didn't want to go shopping. At least I wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the amount of money being spent. Or maybe unfamiliar was a better word. Angel and Nudge starred at Alice like she was the shopping goddess. We happened to get home at the same time as Carlisle, Esme, and Gazzy. In the driveway, we saw a weird sight. Emmet, Fang and Iggy were crouched outside the front window, all shaking with silent laughter. Angel looked confused for a second, and then started cracking up. She leapt to the door and pulled it open. A collective gasp went up from every one.

Inside, Jasper was banging his head into the wall, causing the plaster to crack. Edward was holding his head in his hand chanting something that sounded like "fifteen more minutes" over and over again. Max sat on the couch, singing.

"Four thousand, seven hundred, twenty nine bottles of beer on the wall! Ten thousand bottles of beer!!!! Oh, hi everyone! We were just having a penguin sing along until I'm allowed to get up."

"Well, let me check your bandages and then you can get up if everything is looking good," Carlisle said. Edward and Jasper looked at Carlisle like he was their savior. After checking the bandages, Carlisle gave the stamp of approval. With the help of her flock, Max made her way outside. The Cullens and I followed to see Max spread her wings in the front yard. She stood in the dying sunset, looking like an archangel with the wind dancing around only her. The wind picked up in a spiral around her, throwing her wings and hair around her face.

Finally, she looked up and smiled in undiluted happiness and drove her wings down. Max shot up, spinning in the center of her cyclone, beating her wings at the crest of each jump. Her flock leapt after her, her happiness reflected on their faces and eyes. All in the air together, they wheeled and dipped in a graceful dance. A dance that those without wings could only watch.

And watch we did. Silence and awe covered us, mingling with the cooling air.

"That was worth a penguin party," Jasper murmured.

"Which reminds me. Alice, you have some explaining to do about a certain yoyo," Edward growled.

**Please review*, because I just sacrificed study time for this!**

***preferably before I go insane via finals***


	11. Above the Clouds

**Hello all. I know that the last chapter was OOC, but I couldn't resist. Believe it or not, it does have something to do with the plot. This chapter will be much mellower. Shout out to Ailat for reviewing in school; FIGHT THE MAN, AILAT!!! Oh, and just so all my reviewers know, I love you guys! If you review, I will send you a cookie with my mind!**

***Attention All! There is a lyric line from the Killers hidden in this chapter. The first person to find it and point it out in a review wins! The prize is they get to pick one line from anything (outside sources or your own creation) for me to incorporate into this story. As a hint, the lyric is from a song in the **_**Sam's Town**_** album.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or the Killers.**

**Chapter 11**

**Above the Clouds**

_The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.__ –Albert Einstein_

Edward's POV

Today was thanksgiving. We had tons of food to cook thanks to the shopping trip Carlisle, Esme, and Gasman took. Bella and Iggy were the leading front of cooking. By the time we all sat down, we had made the greatest looking thanksgiving dinner I'd ever seen. All the vampires were slightly nauseated from the smell, but it looked nice.

I never realized that the expression "dig in" was literal.

After thanksgiving dinner, everyone sat around the living room and laughed about nothing. They all looked happy during the meal and after. It was still hard to get used to their wings. Since no one outside the family was coming today, they let their wings out and kept them neatly tucked on the outside of their shirts. I noticed that Max was still limping every now and then. Normally she stood strong while Nudge, Angel and Gazzy were in the room and let her façade go when it was only Fang or Iggy.

It was about 10:00 pm when I realized Max was missing. I panicked for a second before I thought about it. The rest of the flock were acting normal. They would be in a frenzy if Max was in trouble. I shut everything else out for a second and listened for a heartbeat.

The roof! She was on the roof. Half of me wanted to let her sit up there alone and stay here. However, my doctor half told me that if she got laryngitis with her freshly healed side, coughing would be hell. Grudging, I got up from Bella's side. Bella looked up in confusion as I mouthed "Max"; she glanced around the room before understanding and giving me a nod.

I slipped out the door unnoticed. Rolling clouds shaded the sky. I rolled to the balls of my feet and pushed off. The ground dropped out below me as the roof came closer. I landed with an almost inaudible _thump_. Max sat on the edge of the roof, eyes locked on the molten grey sky. She always seemed to be sitting on some sort of edge, whether it was the edge of my sanity or the edge of life. She sat like a shadow, arms wrapped around her legs and wings tensed into sharp, half-opened switchblades.

"Shouldn't you be inside?" I asked.

"Shouldn't you be turning into a bat? It's the full moon, you know." Max's lips curled up slightly in a ghost of a smile, but her troubled eyes stayed focused on the sky.

"Touché," I countered. Max let out a small chuckle and patted the ground next to her. Something about her laugh seemed off. I sunk down next to her on the roof. "Tell me," I asked, "what happened? Yesterday you fought with me over a yoyo, but now … well your sitting alone on the roof."

Max gave a sigh and half a smile. "Yesterday," she explained, "I was helpless. Even if I tried, I couldn't do anything. Now because I can do something, I have the responsibility to do something. I would die for my family, but even in dying, I couldn't do much. I hate feeling helpless. Playing it off like I was just bored out of my mind was more self-defense than anything else."

"I understand." As a look out for my family, I understood. Being helpless, I understood. No one in my family learned about helplessness the way I did. No one understood the horror, the agony that I felt and still feel today when I think of Bella, laying on the floor of the ballet studio, blood around her, her eyes closed. _My Bella's dying and I can't do anything about it_. I couldn't think of anything else; not of James, or my family, or whatever future I would have. Because I knew that my future wouldn't be worth living alone.

"Sometimes it gets hard," Max whispered, "knowing that I'm a freak, that I don't belong here, that my family and I are alone. Even you belong here more than I do, you were created naturally. But I'm here now!" she said, her voice growing. "Me, Omega, those sadistic scientists, we all breathe the same air! We all wish on the same stars! Yes, they might have brought me into this world, but that doesn't mean they have permission to take me out of it! Why can't they just let us go?! Come on, Edward!" she jumped to her feet and flung out her wings. Her back was straight and pointed out towards the sky.

"What?" she couldn't mean what I thought she meant.

"Get on my back. Put one knee between my wings and one slightly behind. Grab my shoulders for support." her tone implied that I could put one and two together. So I did as told and tried to prep myself mentally for flying on the back of a very recently recovered bird/human mix who probably weighted less than half my body weight. Sadly, I only got about halfway through my internal motivational speech when Max pushed down on her wings and shot into the air. The first few wing-beats were slightly uneven, but once she leveled out it was fantastic.

I loved speed, so the wind in my face was nothing new. The view was incredible. We kept climbing and climbing until we reached the clouds. In a rush of wind, max created a funnel shape around us that kept the cloud out as we dived up into the dark, swirling expanse of grey. For two full minutes, Max drove blindly through the cloud until at last we shot out the other side.

The once grey clouds now glowed bright silver under the full moon. Without the pollution of ground lights, the stars were blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun. Under us, the clouds formed an unfamiliar landscape, twisting into marble spires and smooth countryside. The only mar against the perfect white was Max's fleeting shadow as it danced silently over the moonlit tundra. Max coasted down to mere inches above the silky clouds. Each down stroke of her wings dipped into the aerial ocean, causing it to flutter.

Max flew for another half hour before her breathing started to get rough. She wordlessly circled down through the clouds until we landed on the roof, back where we started.

"Come on," she said before jumping to the ground with a slight flare of her wings. We were just about to enter the house when I finally found my voice.

"You're not alone," I murmured as we entered the light-flooded house. "You've got us now, and we won't let them hurt you. We would never let anything hurt our family."


	12. sorry

Okay, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in months. I've really lost inspiration to continue my stories. If it's really killing anyone, PM me and I will send you an outline of how I would have finished it. I hope to continue these stories at some point, but it is unfair to readers for me to go for so long without giving real chapters. Even the last few updates have been sub-par. Please PM me if you want me to read any of your stories or maybe write a quick one-shot. I still love everyone who has taken the time to read these stories and I am very sorry for the disappointment. As of now, I am officially on hiatus.


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